Purchasers of beer, soft drinks and bottled water will still be able to go to state recycling centers and redeem the nominal recycling fee included in the price. State officials say items not in the California Redemption Value, or CRV program won't be counted.
“This is to protect the beverage container recycling fund from unnecessary losses being paid out on containers that no deposit was ever paid in on,” says Mark Oldfield with CalRecycle.
Supports of the new CRV rules say by saving the program money, it helps the state meet its environmental goals.
“The promise of recycling in California is one that conserves resources, conserves energy and it’s also creating jobs,” says Mark Murray, Executive Director of Californians Against Waste. “We’ve got a lot of recycling manufacturers in California who are clamoring for more materials.”
CalRecycle says residential recycling programs will carry on recycling non-CRV containers.